ERA, a member of the Czech OMNIPOL group, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Diehl Defence, a prominent supplier of guided missiles and ground-based air defense systems (GBAD). The agreement pertains to the collaboration in passive sensors and multi-sensor tracking capabilities for Diehl Defence’s ground-based air defense. ERA is a pioneer in developing passive surveillance sensors and is a leader in multilateration, multistatic, and reconnaissance technology.
Helmut Rauch, CEO of Diehl Defence, and Ondřej Chlost, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of ERA, executed the Memorandum of Understanding during a ceremony at the ILA Airshow in Berlin, Germany, this week. The Czech and German National Armaments Directors, Lubor Koudelka and Vice Admiral Carsten Stawitzki were in attendance.
The MoU foresees both companies’ intention to complement the Diehl Defence GBAD systems, primarily IRIS-T SLM, with ERA’s Passive ESM Tracker (PET). Access to another ERA product, Multi-Sensor Tracker (MST), will allow the real-time data fusion of active and passive sensors.
GBAD is a battle-proven use case for PET. In GBAD, passive sensors are essential for complementing active sensors, which are otherwise susceptible to electronic warfare, due to their superiority in real-time detection, tracking, and identification of airborne targets (e.g., rapid movers and UAVs).
Diehl Defence will have a broader market potential due to the availability of ERA components in the modular IRIS-T SLM architecture, which will provide customer nations with additional options for their individual system configurations. Additionally, as part of the MoU, both organizations will collaborate on marketing initiatives for GBAD systems that are passive-sensor enabled and capable of working with multiple sensors.
Nations participating in the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) will be particularly interested in the availability of additional passive surveillance system options. In August 2022, the German government initiated the ESSI initiative to improve the air defense capabilities of participating European countries.
ERA personnel are co-staffing the Diehl Defence exhibit of GBAD systems in the Defence Park on the event premises during the ILA Airshow in Berlin. Here, ERA representatives are demonstrating the integration of the Passive ESM Tracker (PET) and Multi Sensor Tracker (MST) from ERA into the Diehl Defence GBAD system simulation by performing tasks in the Tactical Operations Center (TOC) of an IRIS-T SLM fire unit.
